Photo: BMW Motorsport

Tim Tramnitz has been announced as a BMW works driver for 2026, but he will be in a single-seater car this week.

The 21-year-old German will drive for Hitech GP in this week’s FIA Formula 3 pre-season test at Barcelona, sitting in for Michael Shin who has signed to race for the team this year.

Shin, who is moving across from Euroformula, has been ruled out of action at present due to a shoulder injury.

For the last two years, Tramnitz has raced for MP Motorsport in the FIA F3 Championship. He came ninth in 2024 with a sprint race win and three other podiums, and was fourth in 2025.

Following a run of seven successive top-five finishes, including a sprint race win and a feature race podium, Tramnitz’s form went downhill and after his first runner-up finish in a feature race he only scored one point in the last seven races.

“I am super happy to now be part of the BMW M Motorsport family and look forward to the challenge,” he said of his next career move.

“For me, this is a big step, as I have dreamed of becoming a works driver for a major manufacturer since my time in karting. I would like to thank everyone involved for their trust and can’t wait to contest my first races at the wheel of the BMW M4 GT3 Evo.”

It has not been announced which championship Tramnitz will race the BMW M4 GT3 Evo in through this year, and his new contract with the German automobile manufacturer comes despite no prior GT sportscar racing experience.

Another junior single-seater star to be signed by a sportscar brand for 2026 is 20-year-old Joseph Loake, who has become a factory driver for McLaren in GT racing.

Back in 2023, Loake took four wins in GB3 to come third in the standings and put himself in contention for the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award. After impressing in the on-track tests as one of the four finalists, the Briton earned himself a prize Formula 1 test with Aston Martin which he completed at Silverstone a year later.

His main focus in 2024 was FIA F3, in which he came 26th in the standings with eight points. They were scored in the two Monaco races.

Last year he made a USF Pro 2000 cameo and finished fifth on debut, as well as racing in sportscars for McLaren customer team Garage 59 in GT World Challenge Europe. He and his team-mates came seventh in the Endurance Cup with one podium.

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Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Reigning Formula 2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli has earned a reserve driver role at the McLaren Formula 1 team for the year ahead.

The 21-year-old Italian was signed to the McLaren Driver Development Programme two months ago, shortly after clinching the F2 title with a round to spare as a rookie. It marked the first time he had been affiliated to an F1 team.

Fornaroli won the FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2024, but the first four years of his single-seater career featured only one win and three poles from 96 races across ADAC and Italian Formula 4, Formula Regional Asia and Europe, and then FIA F3.

He said he was “thrilled to be stepping into an extended role” with McLaren, calling it “an exciting next step in my journey, and I’m looking forward to contributing to such a successful, championship-winning team this season.”

Winning the F2 title automatically earns a driver the FIA superlicence required to race in F1, and despite a total lack of test mileage in F1 machinery it will be Fornaroli who will be on call-up for McLaren since he is without a race programme while fellow reserve driver Pato O’Ward will be aiming for the 2026 IndyCar title as one of McLaren’s drivers in that championship.

Another F2 champion waiting for his chance to race in F1 is Felipe Drugovich, although for 2026 he has taken up a seat in Formula E with Andretti Global after serving as one of the Aston Martin F1 team’s reserve drivers since September 2022.

It was reported last year that several of his free practice outings with the team did not actually count as having a rookie driver in the car, since they were not registered as such in advance of them taking place. Each team is obliged to run drivers with no more than two F1 starts to their name in practice four times each season. Not all teams met this rule in 2025.

Drugovich has driven in seven F1 practice sessions to date, has now left Aston Martin and is five races into his FE career.

His personal information that was held by the FIA was at risk of being accessed publicly last year due to a breach in the website that stored driver biographies. Once the security issue was reported on, the FIA fixed it and contacted the drivers whose data had been accessed.

Meanwhile Kush Maini will remain on the reserve driver roster of Alpine’s F1 team for 2026. His failure to secure a superlicence in his third F2 season last year, during which time he was actually one of Alpine’s reserve drivers, led to him deciding last October to return to the Mahindra FE team to fulfil the reserve role for them instead through 2026.

He had previously held the position in 2024, but left it to take on the same position at Alpine. He will now juggle both, but his primary focus is F2 as he joins ART Grand Prix‘s line-up.

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Photo: McLaren F1

Formula 2 title contender Alex Dunne will drive for McLaren in Formula 1’s first free practice session at Monza this weekend.

Dunne is set to replace championship leader Oscar Piastri in FP1 at the Italian Grand Prix this Friday, having completed his maiden practice call-up with McLaren in Lando Norris’s car at the Red Bull Ring in June.

The 19-year-old Irishman was fourth fastest in FP1 for the Austrian Grand Prix, just 0.069 seconds off Piastri’s pace.

“I’m super excited to be back for my second FP1 with McLaren in Monza this weekend,” said Dunne.

“My first one in Austria was an extremely special day for me, but I think to do it again in Monza — which is a track that’s so historic and prestigious — is definitely going to put a very big smile on my face. So really looking forward to it. Hopefully I can build and improve on what was already a strong outing in Austria and help Lando and Oscar as much as possible going into their weekend.”

Dunne has been a member of McLaren’s driver development programme since last year, and got his first taste of F1 machinery with McLaren at Zandvoort in May when he drove its MCL60 chassis from 2023 under the testing of previous cars (TPC) regulations. He did another of those tests at Circuit of the Americas in June.

His rookie F2 campaign has featured two feature race victories, four other podiums, two poles and two fastest laps so far, and he is currently fifth in the standings having previously been top of the points table.

Several other F1 teams have been busy over summer handing mileage to drivers aspiring to race in the championship.

Reigning Super Formula champion Sho Tsuboi tested for Haas in its 2023 car at Fuji Speedway last month as part of the team’s alliance with Toyota Gazoo Racing, and Williams ran its juniors Victor Martins and Luke Browning — both F2 stars — in a TPC test at Silverstone in July.

Martins’ running was to help him familiarise himself with the team, as well as the car, and took place in wet conditions.

“We go through some short runs, high-fuel run, to simulate qualifying, a race, to see how the tyres are behaving,” he said of his test.

“[Also] how I can manage the car with different tools that I can use. Definitely 20 more available than an F2 car! And then I work with probably 20 engineers. Which I’m not used to.”

Felipe Drugovich, the 2022 F2 champion, is still searching for a seat on the F1 grid. He is currently reserve driver for Aston Martin, which has already confirmed its 2026 line-up, and drove for the team in FP1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix a month ago. It was his seventh F1 practice appearance, and second of this year.

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Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Formula 2 championship leader Alex Dunne will make his Formula 1 free practice debut with McLaren in Austria this week.

A member of McLaren’s driver development programme since last year, the Irish driver stepped up from FIA Formula 3 to F2 and has made a stunning start to his rookie season with Rodin Motorsport, scoring feature race wins in Bahrain and Imola and leading the standings by three points over veteran Richard Verschoor after six rounds.

He was handed his first taste of F1 machinery by McLaren at Zandvoort in May when he drove its MCL60 chassis from 2023 under the testing of previous cars (TPC) regulations, and got a similar outing at United States Grand Prix venue Austin last week.

Dunne will take over the car of Lando Norris in Friday’s opening practice session at the Red Bull Ring.

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Photo: McLaren

The entry list for Formula E’s annual rookie test in Berlin is filling up, with several starts of junior single-seater racing down to drive on July 14.

McLaren Driver Development Programme members Alex Dunne and Ella Lloyd will test for their backer’s FE squad, which Dunne is the reserve driver for. The 19-year-old started in that role this year, and has already contested an FE practice session.

“I’m very excited to be getting another opportunity in the Gen3 Evo at the Berlin rookie test next month,” said Dunne, who is currently in his rookie Formula 2 season and is leading the title race. The Irishman raced in FIA Formula 3 last year.

“Since I joined the team as reserve and development driver, I’ve learnt so much about what it takes to get the maximum out of these cars, and I can’t wait to get out on track again.”

Lloyd too has FE mileage already as she drove on the final day of 2024-25 pre-season testing last November when teams were required to run a woman in at least one of their cars for at least one session.

The 19-year-old Welshwoman is in her second year of racing in Formula 4. As a rookie she claimed four podiums in British F4, and came 11th in the standings after missing a round. She is missing rounds again this season while her focus is on the all-female F1 Academy series where she sits fourth in the points at present with one win and three other podiums.

“I’m really looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the Gen3 Evo car again,” said Lloyd. “I learnt so much at the women’s test in Madrid and I’m excited to have another opportunity to get out on track and put all the preparation I’ve been doing in the simulator into practice.”

Bianca Bustamante also drove for McLaren in the women’s test day, and has now been signed by the Cupra-partnered Kiro Race Co. team (formerly known as Team China Racing, NIO and then ERT) as its development driver and for the rookie test.

The 20-year-old Filipino drove in Formula Regional in 2022, coming 15th in the all-female W Series, then stepped down to F4. She went on to win in F1 Academy and score in a British F4 cameo. This year she’s moved back up the single-seater ladder to GB3, where she is currently 24th in the standings with a best finish of 13th.

“I’m really excited to join Cupra Kiro,” said Bustamante. “In the very short time that we’ve been working together, it’s been incredible to experience the team’s disruptive approach to racing in action and to see the team’s hunger and desire for success first-hand.”

DS Penske has announced the creation of its own driver development programme, and made Nikita Bedrin its first signing and rookie test entrant.

The 19-year-old Russian is an FIA F3 Championship race-winner and cameoed in the 2025 season opener. Since then he has raced in the FRegional European Championship.

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Photo: Red Bull

Three junior single-seater talents have been driving Formula 1 cars recently, at Monza and in a city centre.

Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov was on home soil in Bulgaria last weekend driving in a Red Bull showrun on the streets of its capital city Sofia.

He was at the wheel of 2011’s Red Bull RB7, which is too old for use in F1’s testing of previous car (TPC) programmes, but was still a landmark for the 18-year-old FIA Formula 3 driver since the demo (and the day he did on an airfield the day before to learn how to donut) marked his first ever running in an F1 car.

Aston Martin was at Monza last week with its two-year-old AMR23 car to do TPC running with its junior driver Jak Crawford and his F2 rival Cian Shields.

Crawford drove on Friday, following up previous TPC call-ups and driving in F1’s official young driver test at the end of 2024, and Shields drove on Saturday after previously testing with Aston Martin at Silverstone in April.

The 20-year-old Scot is not connected to the team, and is yet to comment on how his test opportunities have came about.

He started his single-seater career in 2022, coming 13th in GB3 with one win, then stepped up to the F3-level Euroformula for 2023. Four wins and six other podiums helped him become championship runner-up.

He moved across to FIA F3 in 2024, which was an unsuccessful endeavour as he came 30th in the standings with no points and a best finish of 14th place. At the end of the year he joined AIX Racing for two F2 rounds, and finished 11th on his second start, then has remained with the team this season. So far he has matched his best result and sits 20th in the standings.

Last month McLaren handed a long-awaited F1 test debut to its simulator driver Jake Hughes at Barcelona, where he drove its MCL60 car from 2023.

The 31-year-old Englishman was a race-winner in GP3, FIA European F3 and the FIA F3 Championship, and had three-top five finishes from 26 races in F2 from 2020 to ’22.

By then his focus was Formula E, joining Mercedes-EQ as test driver in 2020 and in 2021 becoming its full-time development driver, reserve driver for powertrain customer Venturi Racing and simulator driver for Mercedes-AMG’s F1 team.

Those roles continued into 2022, when Aston Martin also signed him as an F1 simulator driver. Hughes finally joined the FE grid in 2023, and across two seasons with McLaren picked up four poles but only one podium. He left its FE squad to join rival Maserati for the 2024-25 season, and has claimed his second podium with the team.

McLaren junior and Formula 4 driver Ella Lloyd has been called up by the team for FE’s rookie test in Berlin next month. She also drove for them in FE’s women’s test at Jarama last November.

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Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

McLaren junior Alex Dunne has secured a step up to Formula 2 for this season with Rodin Motorsport alongside his first official appearance in Formula E.

Having become a reserve driver for McLaren’s Formula E team, Dunne will be among the rookies taking part in a dedicated practice session at Jeddah next Friday.

His attention will then turn to his maiden F2 campaign, confirmation of which comes after he joined Rodin for all three days of post-season testing in Abu Dhabi last December.

The Irishman steps up to F2 after just one season in FIA Formula 3, which he spent with MP Motorsport and finished 14th in the championship after taking a pair of sprint race podiums at Barcelona and Monza.

Dunne was previously British Formula 4 champion with Hitech in 2022 when he also finished second to Andrea Kimi Antonelli in Italian F4 for US Racing. He stepped up to GB3 the following season with Hitech and finished runner-up to Rodin’s Callum Voisin.

“I’m looking forward to the upcoming season and thankful for everyone’s support in getting me to this stage – I can’t wait to hit the ground running,” Dunne said.

He will team-mate to fellow F3 graduate Christian Mansell at Rodin.

“We are delighted to welcome Alex to Rodin Motorsport,” said Benn Huntingford, Rodin sporting director and F2 team manager.

“Alex’s talent, dedication, and passion for racing align perfectly with our team’s values and ambitions. We are confident that he will make a significant impact in the upcoming season and know that he is capable of enjoying a really great season with the us.”

Confirmation of Dunne’s drive leaves just two seats on the F2 grid to be filled, at ART Grand Prix and Van Amersfoort Racing – as occupied by Victor Martins and Rafael Villagomez through last season and in testing.

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Photo: McLaren Racing

McLaren Racing has announced the hiring of Alessandro Alunni Bravi, formerly of Sauber, to be the new head of its driver development programme.

That will be one of several roles which Alunni Bravi will hold in an executive role at the company, which oversees McLaren’s Extreme E, Formula 1, Formula E and IndyCar teams as well as its planned future Hypercar-class prototype sportscar.

When he joins McLaren on February 1, his main responsibility will be chief business affairs officer – a newly created role – and he will report directly to chief executive officer Zak Brown.

He takes over leadership of the McLaren Driver Development Programme from Stephanie Carlin, who has been at its helm since April 2024. She will move to more F1-focused work while continuing to be McLaren’s business operations director.

There has been a lot of rotation in the MDDP leadership over recent years. Carlin succeeded Emanuele Pirro, who also lasted less than a year as its director after being hired in April 2023. The programme took on a more formalised structure at that point, as Brown had been overseeing it akin to a personal project following the signing Ugo Ugochukwu as a junior in March 2021 after he had impressed in Sauber’s karting squad.

McLaren has also poached Alunni Bravi from its F1 rival, where he had been managing director and team representative since 2022 and ’23 respectively. During his time managing the team there was a failure to bring its long-time protege and 2023 Formula 2 champion Theo Pourchaire into its race driver line-up, and the closing down of the Sauber Academy entirely at the end of 2024, but last year’s F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto was poached from the MDDP to race for Sauber in 2025.

His work with young drivers before that included management roles in the Trident and ART Grand Prix teams in F2, back when the championship was known as GP2 in the 2000s and early 2010s.

“McLaren is a team I’ve been a huge fan of my whole life, and it therefore sparks special emotions personally to have the opportunity to now work with such an amazing group of people,” Alluni Bravi said.

“I’m so grateful to be joining such a great organisation with the values and culture that are so clear to see from the outside. I want to reward the trust and confidence that Zak and the board have put in me by giving my full dedication and effort to help contribute to the continued success, as I believe teamwork is key to everything.”

Brown added: “I’m delighted to have Alessandro joining us with his extensive expertise and motorsport background. Alongside managing our legal and driver development functions, he will also provide invaluable support on all professional driver business management matters, racing governance activities across our various rights holders and governing body relationships and broad business support to all our racing series as needed.”

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Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

McLaren has announced that Alex Dunne, one of its junior drivers, will be a reserve driver for its Formula E squad this year.

The 2024-25 FE season got underway last month, with McLaren promoting its previous reserve driver Taylor Barnard to a full-time race seat after he had impressed in several outings as a stand-in.

Dunne joined the McLaren Driver Development Programme last year after being 2023 GB3 runner-up, and he went on to come 14th in the FIA Formula 3 Championship and sixth in the Formula Regional World Cup-awarding Macau Grand Prix. His 2025 racing plans are yet to be confirmed, and in the off-season he has done a Formula 2 test.

“I’m excited to be joining the McLaren FE team as reserve and development Driver,” said the 19-year-old Irishman.

“Working with McLaren as part of my experience in the MDDP is an excellent opportunity to hone my skills. I’m looking forward to doing what I can to support the team and learn as much as possible.”

McLaren’s FE team principal Ian James added: “Alex is an up-and-coming talent in single-seater motorsport and has been part of the MDDP since last season, through which we have been able to follow his progress and development. We are all looking forward to working with him in 2025. Alex will play an important role for us, adding value to the McLaren FE team with his drive and talent, while also gaining experience himself along the way.”

Andretti Global – a rival to McLaren in FE, IndyCar and soon Formula 1 too – has also made a driver signing as eight-year-old Zayne Burgess joins its driver development programme. He drove for a karting team co-owned by FE champion Nelson Piquet Jr last year, and for 2025 he will drive mini karts at home in America and also in Europe.

Formula 4 racer Sebatian Wheldon and his younger brother Oliver are also Andretti juniors.

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Photos: Joe Skibinski

Every year, some of junior single-seaters’ top drivers are handed professional opportunities. Some lead to long-term careers in sportscars, while others try out the more cut-throat world of F1 and IndyCar

In addition to annually ranking the top 50 drivers in junior single-seater racing since 2011, Formula Scout also recognises the achievements of the very best of those who ‘graduate’ into the world of professional racing each year.

There were three Formula 2 race-winners who debuted in F1 this season, and while two of them quickly became de facto stars of the grid they are not eligible for this list since their primary programme was F2. Ferrari junior Ollie Bearman contested three grands prix and scored seven points, earning himself a full-time seat with Haas next year, and Williams handed its junior Franco Colapinto a surprise F1 promotion mid-season and he scored five points from nine races.

Bearman competed in all F2 rounds that didn’t clash with his F1 duties but struggled to 12th in the standings (his three wins countered by engine issues and a lack of pace elsewhere), and Colapinto dropped out of F2 once he became an F1 driver. Despite missing four rounds he still came ninth in the points. There are rumours he could appear in F1 again in 2025, despite no seats being free, but returning to F2 is also an option having contributed to an explosion in Argentine sponsors in racing.

Jack Doohan, third in F2 in 2023, made his F1 debut with Alpine in the season finale ahead of racing full-time there in 2025.

Taylor Barnard also won in F2 before dumping it once McLaren signed him to its Formula E team, but he did 20 races in the former and only four in the latter this year. He began the 2024-25 season this month by making the Sao Paulo E-Prix podium.

Another ineligible name is Esteban Masson, who won the Formula Regional-based Eurocup-3 championship last year but through his sponsors and the backing of Toyota ended up in GT sportscars for 2024. He drove a Lexus in the FIA Endurance Trophy for GT3 cars, and in the European Le Mans Series claimed two class wins and came second in the standings.

Photo: Antoine Evora

However Toyota is sending him back to single-seaters next year, and in Japan’s third-tier Super Formula Lights series.

There were 15 drivers who could have made Formula Scout’s Class of 2023, but didn’t perform strongly enough – or in a series with not enough high-quality opposition to be compared against – to make the cut.

Cayman Islander Kyffin Simpson was FRegional Americas champion in 2021, then became a development driver for IndyCar powerhouse Chip Ganassi Racing. Before that he was in Honda Performance Development’s GT3 academy programme, which could have led to a professional single-seater drive when he was just 17 as his FRegional title earned him a scholarship from HDP (which he turned down) to step up to Super Formula.

He took the more sensible option of building his experience in Indy Nxt, and despite failing to win in his two seasons there got a IndyCar seat for 2024. Not only that, but a full-time ride with Ganassi. And was signed after a single test day in the car.

At the time, Simpson said “I don’t really have any expectations set for myself”, but he had a race-winning car at his disposal and two title-winning team-mates to learn from as a rookie. Externally, there were expectations being set that few anticipated he would meet. But then the 19-year-old finished 12th on his debut with the second fastest lap.

That ended up being Simpson’s best race result, and he only qualified in the top 20 three times en route to 21st in the points.

Over in Super Formula there was another questionable signing, as TGM Grand Prix put 18-year-old Juju Noda in one of its cars. The Euroformula race-winner had primarily spent the previous two years in club series for third-tier single-seaters, so had a lot to learn about higher levels of downforce and racecraft. While becoming the third ever woman to race in SF during its time as a top-tier single-seater series is impressive, she qualified more than two seconds off the pace everywhere and only late safety car periods prevented her from finishing more than a minute behind the winner in every race.

Photo: Super Formula

Performing stronger in their rookie campaigns were Iori Kimura (B-MAX Racing) and Hibiki Taira (Team Impul), who were the top two in Super Formula Lights last year. The former scored three points, and the latter took two as a part-timer as well as coming third in Super GT’s secondary GT300 class with INGING. He took a win and three second places there.

Stepping up to FE after four years and four wins in F2 was Jehan Daruvala. The Indian drove for Maserati and came 21st in the standings, starting three races in the top 10, taking the fastest lap in the Monaco E-Prix and finishing a career-best seventh in one of Berlin’s races. It was not enough to retain his seat for 2025.

Most junior single-seater graduates ended up racing prototype sportscars this year, but one made it into the top Hypercar class. Carl Bennett, a Formula 4 race-winner with Eurocup-3 experience, joined Isotta Fraschini in the World Endurance Championship but the brand only lasted five races before dropping out and in that time a 14th place was the best result.

In the lower-level LMP2 machinery he came 10th in the Asian Le Mans Series and 20th in ELMS, concluding both campaigns with podium finishes.

Gregoire Saucy, a podium finisher in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, drove a United Autosport-run McLaren to ninth in WEC’s GT3 class (doing enough to retain his seat for a second season and earn an FE test with McLaren through mutual team boss Zak Brown), and in ELMS led a LMP2 Pro-Am entry to two overall seventh places as a reliably fast driver.

ELMS was full of former open-wheel talents, with F2 race-winner Clement Novalak (Inter Europol Competition), 2023 F2 runner-up Frederik Vesti (Cool Racing) and 2022 champion Felipe Drugovich (Vector Sport) coming seventh, ninth and 15th in the standings respectively. Novalak was also LMP2 runner-up in the Le Mans 24 Hours, while the latter two served as F1 reserve drivers at Aston Martin and Mercedes-AMG respectively. Vesti will race a Cadillac hypercar in IMSA next year.

Photo: ELMS

USF Pro 2000 race-winner Bijoy Garg came 11th overall for United Autosports in ELMS and 19th in IMSA’s LMP2 class with one podium, and Indy Nxt podium-finisher Rasmus Lindh appeared part-time in IMSA and ELMS in various cars.

One-time FRegional Europe podium-finisher Maceo Capietto won in ELMS at Mugello, with a place close to his FIA Platinum-graded team-mate Matteo Cairoli and was the fastest LMP2 rookie at Le Mans, but that pace wasn’t on show everywhere.

The F1-supporting Porshce Supercup attracted a surprisingly high number of sportscar newcomers in 2024. Former F2 racer Lirim Zendeli made a second attempt at redirecting his career, after his detour into USFP2000 last year only resulted in one win, and was 12th in the Supercup standings as well as coming fourth in Porsche Carrera Cup Italy with two poles with Ombra Racing. Monaco Increase Management was responsible for Zendeli’s move, and some of his results didn’t show the continual upwards trajectory he was on.

Eurocup-3 race-winner Francesco Braschi and FREC graduate Victor Bernier were 15th and 19th in the Supercup, with the former taking podiums in Italy while the latter came sixth in Carrera Cup France – two places behind the rookie champion and former FREC rival Marcus Amand.

As none of these names could make the cut, here is Formula Scout’s Class of 2023… Key Wins (W), poles (P), fastest laps (FL)

10. Kas Haverkort NETHERLANDS 21y/o
8th in Porsche Supercup, 7th in PCC Germany (1 W, 1 P, 1 FL), 5th in PSC Southern Europe (2 W)   2023: 4th in FREC (2 W, 2 P, 4 FL)   2022: 5th in FREC (2 W, 1 P, 2 FL)

Photo: Porsche

Another driver to spend their 2024 racing in spec series for Porsche GT cars, and the most successful of them, was Haverkort.

The 2020 Spanish F4 champion continued a trend through his car racing career of only driving for Dutch teams by joining GP Elite to do three different series in one year. This contrasted to having spent the previous three years in just one series, with his three FREC campaigns not earning him a place higher up the single-seater ladder.

In the Supercup, the most prestigious of one-make series, Haverkort qualified 10th on debut and improved to sixth place in the race. Around the streets of Monaco his FREC experience was of use and he started and finished fourth, earning him top rookie honours, and two further top-10 finishes followed at the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone.

At the Hungaroring, where he had won from pole in FREC, Haverkort was pipped to top spot in qualifying by just 0.078s and then held second place for the first six laps of the race before being passed. Once gapped by the top two he settled in third, marking another rookie classification win as well as his first overall podium.

Although he remained on the pace following that, he had disastrous races at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza that dropped him from fourth to eighth in the standings and cost him the rookie title.

In Carrera Cup Germany he again showed his speciality for the Hungaroring by winning from pole, and two Red Bull Ring podiums before another bad season finale earned him seventh in the points. Yet again the rookie title went amiss due to a bad final race. Not quite delivering on his promise was made more difficult by the fact he had begun the year with two Porsche Sprint Challenge Southern Europe outings that had resulted in two wins and fifth in the standings.

9. Nolan Siegel UNITED STATES 20/o
23rd in IndyCar, Le Mans 24H LMP2 winner, 53rd in IMSA LMP2 class, 17th in Indy Nxt (1 W, 1 P)   2023: 3rd in Indy Nxt (2 W, 2 FL), 5th in Asian LMS (1 W), 8th in IMSA LMP2 (2 W), 24th in Intercontinental GT Challenge, 25th in IMSA LMP3 (1 FL)

Photo: McLaren

Siegel won in USF2000 in 2021, USFP2000 in ’22 and Indy Nxt in ’23, so was heading to IndyCar in 2024 rightly timed?

He came third in the Indy Nxt standings last year, and opted for a second season with HMD Motorsports. But his off-season preparations included IndyCar and SF tests, which prompted a change in plan. Dale Coyne Racing had supported his Indy Nxt entry through 2023, and after his IndyCar test with them he signed to contest four races which didn’t clash with Indy Nxt.

His racing schedule began in St. Petersburg, where he took pole and dominated Indy Nxt’s season-opening race. IndyCar’s non-championship $1 Million Challenge at The Thermal Club followed, and Siegel was seventh in his heat so didn’t reach the main race. Rick Ware Racing got involved in running his car for the Long Beach Grand Prix, and he finished a lapped 20th. Siegel was runner-up in the next two Indy Nxt races, and was still second in the points when he left round three of the season.

At the Indianapolis 500 he flipped in practice, then was far too slow to qualify for the race so had a second non-start.

A sorry turn of events meant Augustin Canapino withdrew from racing at Road America, and Siegel dropped out of Indy Nxt to take his seat at Juncos Hollinger Racing. Once in the car, which had previously been run in a commercial alliance with McLaren, Siegel had another weekend of being lapped.

Siegel never appeared in Indy Nxt again, as he then signed a multi-year IndyCar deal with McLaren. There was an instant improvement in qualifying by having a more competitive car, twice being 11th on ovals, and came from 20th to finish seventh at Gateway. On a points-per-race basis he would’ve been ahead of his fellow Indy Nxt graduates, but overall his IndyCar campaign didn’t make an impact.

What brings Siegel into this list is his impressive sportscar career. At the Daytona 24 Hours he was in the LMP2 class’s only Ligier and outpaced his team-mates, then won the Le Mans 24H’s LMP2 class at his first attempt. He did the world’s toughest race with less preparation than rivals due to IndyCar commitments meaning he missed testing. A big achievement.

8. Ollie Gray BRITAIN 19y/o
7th in ELMS, 14th in PCC Italy, 22nd in PSC Southern Europe   2023: 28th in FIA F3   2022: 2nd in British F4 (2 W, 2 P)

Photo: FocusPackMedia – Marcel Wulf

Only in his fourth year of car racing, Gray made a canny career move after a disastrous FIA F3 campaign in 2023. And like Bearman’s rise to F1, it was thanks to the WH Sports management company.

Williams had signed Gray as a junior driver in 2022, and he rewarded its faith by coming second in British F4 with Rodin Carlin. He moved up to F3 with the team, but he and the team were very uncompetitive. Three 14th places were his best results, and he came 28th in the standings.

WH Sports, as with other clients, was quick-moving to find a place where Gray could show off his talents to the world (and of course sponsors) again as soon as possible and found him an ELMS seat alongside IndyCar driver Luca Ghiotto and Novalak.

Campaigns in spec Porsche series with Ombra were added almost immediately after. The PSC Southern Europe season took place between January and March, meaning Gray could get used to racing with a roof over his head early in the year in an environment with less scrutiny than other series. He did two rounds, and penalties cost him a podium on his first outing.

Ghiotto had one LMP2 start to his name prior to the ELMS season, so it was critical for the Inter Europol drivers to learn off each other to be competitive as they couldn’t truly rely on one experienced talent like other line-ups. The combination finished the season opener in 10th, and at Paul Ricard spent two spells in the lead. Their time up front ended with 20 minutes to go as the gearbox went, and a drive-through penalty and race interruptions ended podium ambitions at Imola.

Third place was less than 1.3s away at Spa-Francorchamps, then Gray qualified the car fourth at Mugello and the crew were dominating the race before full course yellows, virtual safety car periods and then red flags brought them back into the pack. Gray was at the wheel then, and tried to reclaim the lead on the restart. Under the next VSC he handed the car over to Ghiotto, who took it from seventh back up to third. The trio finished fifth in the Algarve finale despite Gray ending lap one in 41st after being spun around and then hit.

He also had to pit the car for repairs, but cycled into the lead before making his first proper stop and returning to the track in sixth. Gray was attempting to overtake his team-mate for third before a VSC period began, then he handed the car over. Ghiotto had it in third before a late splash-and-dash pitstop that meant they finished a hard-fought for fifth place.

Gray’s performances did not go unnoticed, and he has now tested a hypercar in America. A big change from 12 months ago.

7. Lorenzo Fluxa SPAIN 20y/o
3rd in ELMS (2 W), 9th in Euroformula (1 W, 1 FL), 12th in Le Mans 24H LMP2, 16th in Int. GT Open   2023-24: 19th in ALMS   2023: 4th in FRegional Middle East, 7th in FRegional Europe

Photo: Marcel Wulf

Victorious in ELMS’ dramatic Algarve finale, and in the opening race at Barcelona, were Cool Racing’s Lorenzo Fluxa, Malthe Jakobsen and Ritomo Miyata.

Fluxa was win-free but competitive in FRegional last year, then stepped up to Euroformula with Motopark for 2024. After one round, in which he took a win, a second and a third, the German team then moved him across to its International GT Open line-up. In the ‘sister’ series to Euroformula, he took three consecutive top-five finishes in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to come 16th in the standings as a part-timer.

ELMS took priority, and the Cool Racing crew’s two wins was accompanied by two retirements. At Paul Ricard they were comfortably leading before car issues forced Jakobsen to retire the car in the final hour, a result that undid their title hopes, then at Imola it was Fluxa who started the car and he kept it clean for an hour-and-a-half to sit in third. But one mistake proved very costly, as a spin as a round of pitstops began meant that when he did pit the car came back out in ninth place.

That result still would’ve earned some crucial points, but stand-in driver Paul-Loup Chatin (since Miyata was racing in F2) then crashed out hard while trying to lap an LMP3 car shortly after the race’s two-hour mark.

At Spa they were in contention to finish third after Fluxa’s time in the car, but in the dramatic squabble for the position late on Jakobsen had to settle for fifth. Fluxa had a battle-filled and fun first two stints at Mugello, but in that time he and several other crews lost far too much time to the cars up front and once his team-mates took over the car dropped to ninth.

The Algarve victory was some justice for a season of learning that had the potential to turn Fluxa and his team-mates into champions. They also did Le Mans, and finished 12th in class.

6. Hunter McElrea NEW ZEALAND 25y/o
IMSA Enduro Cup LMP2 champion (2 W, 1 FL)   2023: 2nd in Indy Nxt (2 W, 2 P, 4 FL)   2022: 4th in Indy Nxt (2 W, 3 P, 1 FL)

Photo: Travis Hinkle

Photo: Chris Jones

The 2023 Indy Nxt runner-up had to wait until July to make his IndyCar debut in Toronto, driving the car Siegel was initially contracted to be in. Afterwards, he boldly claimed he could’ve been “fighting with good pace at the front”.

McElrea was the top rookie in practice, and comfortably faster than Dale Coyne team-mate Toby Sowery, but failed to set a lap in qualifying after crashing and lined up 25th on the grid. He ran as high as ninth before his first pitstop, then 10th in his second stint, before retiring from 20th place.

“Did some cool moves. And then on my last stint, on my outlap I just got in the grey, and just brushed the wall, and then unfortunately a couple laps later the suspension failed from just that little brush. Really unfortunate.”

He then joined Ed Carpenter Racing for post-season testing and was second fastest at The Thermal Club, and is looking for further IndyCar outings in 2025. But his racing future is already secured, after an impressive rookie season in IMSA.

McElrea drove for TDS Racing in the LMP2 class, and only in the five races (ranging from six to 24 hours) that made up the Endurance Cup. The car had already been retired before McElrea got in it at Daytona, which made for an even harder race debut in the Sebring 12 Hours. But on the bumpy track the LMP2 pace was set by McElrea (with the Kiwi put in the car while it was still light), and the TDS car finished 1.127s short of victory.

At Watkins Glen he was again one of the fastest in race conditions, but crashed out in tricky weather conditions. When he returned to the car for the last two IMSA rounds, he was victorious both times. The car finished in the top eight overall in both races, the latter being Petit Le Mans, and meant the crew also won the Endurance Cup. McElrea will stay with TDS for 2025.

5. Arthur Leclerc MONACO 24y/o
4th in ELMS (1 W, 1 FL), Italian GT Endurance champion (2 W, 3 P)   2023: 15th in F2 (1 FL)   2022: 6th in FIA F3 (1 W, 1 FL)

Photo: ACI Sport

Photo: FocusPackMedia - Marcel Wulf

Leclerc spent 2024 learning from some immensely experienced and talented drivers, accelerating his own development as a result. in ELMS he drove an LMP2 car for Panis Racing alongside Charles Milesi (a class winner at Le Mans and champion in WEC) and Manuel Maldonado, while in Italian GT he shared Scuderia Baldini’s Ferrari 296 GT3 with Giancarlo Fisichella, a man with 229 F1 starts and many class wins in IMSA and WEC to his name.

The 24-year-old brother of F1 racer Charles headed to sportscars after a single season in F2 featuring one podium, and following a 2022 in which he had won in FIA F3 and also been FRegional Asian champion.

Although he exited the Ferrari Driver Academy at the end of 2023, Leclerc got a job with the brand as one of its F1 development drivers and as part of that he did several private tests and drove in practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

In ELMS he was Panis’s fastest driver in qualifying on his debut, then his team-mates put the car on pole twice later in the season. They turned the first of those into victory at Imola, and went to Algarve contending for the title. But after taking pole, it was a race of going backwards and they finished 16th overall. Despite the sour end, it was a campaign where Leclerc didn’t look like a rookie and Ferrari rewarded him with a hypercar test as well as his F1 running.

Over in Italian GT, the Fisichella/Leclerc car was on pole for three our of four races and won two of them to take the title.

4. Ayumu Iwasa JAPAN 23y/o
5th in Super Formula (1 P)   2023: 4th in F2 (3 W, 1 P, 3 FL)   2022: 5th in F2 (2 W, 2 P, 1 FL)   2021: 12th in FIA F3 (1 W)

Photo: Red Bull

Photo: Red Bull

Failing to become the first Red Bull junior to be Super Formula champion, as a rookie, potentially cost Iwasa a 2025 F1 seat.

Like Pierre Gasly and Liam Lawson before him, he proved himself in F2 but with no berth at Red Bull’s second F1 team was sent off to Japan to drive top-tier single-seaters there. Straight away, Iwasa targeted the title with Team Mugen.

He qualified 11th and finished ninth on his debut at Suzuka, then at Autopolis finished second from pole and at Sportsland SUGO started and finished second. Iwasa missed out on pole by just 0.017s at Fuji Speedway, but fell to 11th on lap one and never recovered from there.

At Twin Ring Motegi he climbed from 13th on the grid to seventh, and in the first race of the Fuji double-header took another second place. The next day was tricky, qualifying 12th and finishing sixth, which put him on the backfoot for Suzuka’s season-ending double-header.

Another front row start for race one, ahead of all of his title rivals, was the perfect base to boost his title hopes from but a technical gremlin left him stranded on the grid. From 20th place, he recovered to ninth in the 31-lap race but was now out of title contention. A “very big frustration” followed as he qualified 11th for race two, had to completely rethink his set-up and could only finish seventh.

He ended the season fifth in the standings, and following that Iwasa made an F1 practice and test outing with RB. But he didn’t do enough to earn a seat with the team, and Honda chose to renew his contract with Mugen instead.

3. Theo Pourchaire FRANCE 21y/o
25th in SF, 28th in IndyCar   2023: F2 champion (1 W, 2 P, 2 FL)   2022: 2nd in F2 (3 W)   2021: 5th in F2 (2 W, 1 P, 3 FL)

Photo: James Black

Photo: McLaren

Pourchaire has already had his mental health tested during his career, but the ups-and-downs of 2024 was a whole new level.

The 2023 F2 champion was sent off to SF by long-time backer Sauber, but only lasted one race there before being left without a race campaign and just his F1 reserve driver duties (which didn’t lead to any free practice appearances).

Then McLaren needed a stand-in driver for IndyCar due to David Malukas being injured, and Pourchaire was handed a brilliant chance to prove himself at single-seaters’ top level and scrub his SF cameo from his mind.

He finished 11th on debut in the Long Beach GP, having never driven an Indy car prior to the weekend, and McLaren used him again at Barber Motorsports Park. The results weren’t good, but internally McLaren was impressed and dropped Malukas to sign Pourchaire (who wasn’t bringing budget) for the rest of the year bar the Indy 500 due to him having no oval experience.

Still only 20, Pourchaire thought he may have found a new racing home and relocated to the USA. He finished 19th on IMS’s road course, kept a cool head while others crashed in Detroit to qualify seventh and finish 10th, then was 13th at Road America. Siegel came along after that and took the seat, and Pourchaire tried to keep his head up.

McLaren still rated him, and when an injured Alexander Rossi withdrew from racing in Toronto there was an obvious stand-in.

“Last-minute call, 10-hour flight, six hours of jet lag, almost no sleep, first time driving in six weeks, straight to qualifying & new track. That’s a lot of problems to manage, but we made it work with McLaren!” he beamed afterwards. “From 26 to 14th in the race here in Toronto, by far the craziest experience of my life.”

Upon the expiry of his 2024 contract with Sauber, Pourchaire was announced as Peugeot’s test and development driver in WEC after he impressed in a hypercar test. He will find out next year if his signature is still wanted in F1 and IndyCar.

2. Jonny Edgar BRITAIN 20y/o
ELMS champion (1 W), 30th in IMSA LMP2   2023: 13th in FIA F3 (1 W)   2022: 12th in FIA F3 (2 FL)   2021: 18th in FIA F3

Photo: Marcel Wulf

Photo: FocusPackMedia - Jan Patrick Wagner

Edgar’s name was mentioned so many times in ELMS commentary this year, as AO by TF Sport went on a title charge.

Like Leclerc, he was able to soak up the experience of team-mates Louis Deletraz and Robert Kubica, who had already won ELMS and WEC titles together. Yet another crown was clearly the aim for those two, and Edgar stepped up to the plate.

He couldn’t outpace his team-mates in qualifying, but that’s nothing to be ashamed of given the standard they were setting, and in races he was strong wheel-to-wheel and also able to handle lapping traffic without too much trouble. The worst result came on his debut, as the crew lost a lap due to pitstop timing in relation to a safety car period.

They finished third at Paul Ricard, Edgar battled for second through the first two stints at Imola and his team-mates were able to retain the position, and at Spa the trio took victory from pole. The points leaders finished fifth at Mugello, and coming through the choatic Algarve finale in second place was more than enough to deliver the title.

Edgar warmed up for his ELMS campaign by racing an LMP2 car at Daytona and Sebring, and in the latter he was driving for the final stint in the middle of the night. He passed more experienced drivers to finish fourth in class, 7.603s off victory. For 2025, Edgar will continue in IMSA’s LMP2 class while also driving a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R for TF Sport in WEC.

1. Christian Rasmussen DENMARK 24y/o
22nd in IndyCar, Daytona 24H LMP2 winner    2023: Indy Nxt champion (5 W, 5 P, 5 FL), 11th in IMSA LMP2 (1 FL)

Photo: Christian Rasmussen

Unlike other IndyCar rookies, Rasmussen did not have a race-winning car at his disposal this season and so 22nd in the standings, with a single top-10 finish and three missed races as ECR team boss Ed Carpenter took over his car for several oval races, made him the most impressive newcomer to single-seaters’ top level.

Although Mid-Ohio was where his best results came, as he qualified eighth and finished ninth, there were other events where he made more of an impact. At Barber he was in fourth before his final pitstop, a mechanical issue forced him to retire in Detroit after a brilliant cool-headed race spent mostly fighting for seventh or eighth place.

When Rasmussen did get to drive on ovals, he also impressed in the races. At the Indy 500 he was one of many Chevrolet-powered drivers who had engine issues in qualifying, but from 24th on the grid finished 12th and only 5.3s behind the winner in a 200-lap race that ran green through its final quarter. He ran as high as fourth, and never lower than 22nd.

In race one around the Milwaukee Mile he did go a lap down but also got up to sixth place and ultimately finished 11th. He was one of few drivers actually able to make overtakes in the final stint. The next day (after yet another engine change copped him a grid penalty) he ran his first lap in a podium position, but finished 16th after being one of several drivers who ended up on a very bad seven-stop strategy.

Rasmussen concluded his season with a 14th place, and before making his debut he also won the LMP2 class at Daytona.

Not long after the IndyCar season ended, ECR announced a multi-year deal for Rasmussen be one of its full-time drivers.

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